A whistle that could slice a diamond cut through the air. Nyx blinked her eyes open, her heart fluttering at the sound of the whistle. The day call. Dawn had arrived, and Nyx wasn’t going to miss it. 

    Although she knew all the other NoxDragons were still very lazily snoozing their snouts off in their caves, she slowly lifted her body off the rough stone floor. Her snake-like black tail made a swish sound as it slithered across the ground, following Nyx to the mouth of the cave with so much stealth every stealthy thing in the world would be jealous. (Nyx couldn’t think of many stealthy things right then, besides panthers and snakes but she was sure they would be very jealous of her super-stealthy tail.)

    Glorious pale morning light galloped into the dark sky outside, dappling the waves of the ocean below with bright blissful silver. Nyx longed to bask in the approaching sunlight, the warmth seeping through the cracks of her scales and satisfying her entire body. 

    She stretched her long dark wings and took in a deep breath of the fresh morning air. SolDragons were just beginning to emerge from their caves on the opposite 

mountain across the bay. 

    If only I were a SolDragon. Nyx resented her name, her dark obsidian scales, and her cramped cold cave. She longed for the blinding gold and white scales of the SolDragons, with their graceful elegant names like Dawn, Lux, and Horizon. 

    Nyx stretched out her front legs and moaned quietly. The sleep still clung to her eyelids and dragged them down. She wanted to sleep more. But now was SO NOT THE TIME, EYELIDS. Not when the sun was just about to rise. Nyx kept her glittering blue eyes surgically attached to the horizon, the seconds ticking by, most certainly mocking her. Soon the moment would come when the sun would peek shyly above the horizon, pushing away the dark and washing away the stars. 

    Glinting golden wings grazed the clouds as the SolDragons climbed into the brightening sky. Any second now. 

    “Nyx,” a rough voice hissed. 

    Nyx spun around just as the sun’s summit sneaked into sight. A massive ebony dragon stood before her, one bronze eye and one green eye glaring at her. Her mother, Chaos, was capable of paralyzing someone like a king cobra. However, 

unlike a cobra, Chaos could paralyze you by simply looking at you. 

    Chaos squinted and groaned as the sun’s first radiating rays sprang into her eyes. “What are you doing? You just went to bed.”

    Nyx stared her mother straight in the eye. She chose the green one- it was less terrifying than the bronze. “I could ask YOU the same thing.”

    Chaos’s black nostrils flared, a small tendril of smoke curling out. Its ghastly fingers rose into the air before vanishing. “I’m awake because you’re awake when you should not be. We sleep during the day, Nyx. Shall I shove you back into the egg you hatched from six years ago so you can continue developing your brain?” she snapped.

    Nyx shook her head and grinned. “No thanks. Maybe some other day. Right now I’ll make an ABUNDANCE of Zs in this COLD and DARK Z factory like the good sleepy dragon I am.” She slipped past her mother and into the sleeping chambers of their cave. Her two siblings, Indigo and Cosmo, were curled up in dark balls, snoozing away like nothing in the world could matter more. 

    Nyx flopped down and slammed her eyes shut. She would NOT sleep. Not today, 

when it was the Summer Solstice. 

    Chaos slinked back into the cave, her claws click click clicking on the cold coarse cavern floors. Nyx heard her sigh and settle down, tucking her head in between her wings to attempt to continue sleeping. That was a very boring mother-ish thing to do right after talking to her immensely stubborn dragonet. 

    Nyx could feel the message her mother was sending her through the air even though Chaos pretended to be asleep. Nyx had heard the warning several times before. Don’t fly in the sun. You are not a SolDragon. You were not meant for the light. 

    Nyx had heard the legends of NoxDragons who had flown in the broad sunlight, and their wings had turned into gold, sending them plummeting into the ruthless waves below. She wasn’t sure how she felt about those stories. Dragons’ wings physically transforming into gold seemed a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle extreme to her. But it made sense that NoxDragons weren’t meant to fly in the sunlight and that SolDragons weren’t made to fly in the night. She heard similar stories about SolDragons who had flown in the moonlight and their wings turned into silver. 

Sure, the legends were cool and amused Nyx, but it wasn’t like anyone BELIEVED them. 

    Nyx rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. This was the SUMMER SOLSTICE. She couldn’t – no, WOULDN’T – miss it. No matter what the “ancient legends” might say. 

    After waiting restlessly for what seemed like and what VERY LIKELY could be three zillion years for Chaos to finally drift back to sleep, Nyx stealthily slinked back to the yawning mouth of the cave, where sunlight was now streaming in, forming mesmerizing ribbons of gold on the cave floor. 

    Nyx smiled as her eyes swept the bright morning sky and the glittering, sparkling water below. The clouds high up were rimmed with gold. How could something this beautiful be dangerous?

    Nyx breathed in deeply. Her whole life, she had never felt a single drop of sunlight hit her scales. This was the day, the longest day of the year, that she would feel warmth for the first time. And it would be AMAZING. 

    Nyx stepped into the beams of the golden sun at the very edge of the cave. The 

light and warmth swallowed her, enveloping her in the best feeling she had ever felt. It was laughing in her ears, shining light in her eyes, sweetness in her mouth, glorious heat basking on scales, and sugary blossoms in her nose. This is what it feels like to be alive, Nyx thought. 

    For a fleeting second, the fear of turning into gold struck her brain like a lightning bolt. Images of

dragons’ scales forming into solid gold, never able to move, frozen in the metal forever screamed through her brain. She peeked down at her front legs, and they were the same dark inky ebony as ever. Nyx almost laughed. 

    Phshaw. Or course those “legends” are fake. 

     They were simple scary bedtime stories for young dragonets to terrify them into never setting wing or claw in the opposite time of day. OBVIOUSLY. Because that made SENSE. And NOTHING else was going to change her mind, so THERE. 

    Nyx leaned farther into the sunlight until she burst into soft giggles at the feeling of the welcoming warmth on her snout. Her wings spread and soaked in more of the 

heat. The feeling was so otherworldly and relaxing that she couldn’t imagine she’d ever lived as long as she had without feeling it. And the SolDraongs got this EVERY DAY. 

    Nyx gazed at the world outside, so bright and joyful and warm. She needed this. She hadn’t turned into gold. She was safe. 

    Without one more thought or hesitation, Nyx crouched and leaped into the air, fully consumed with sunlight and brightness and warmth. Her wings flapped and she soared through the sky like a hawk trying to reach the sun. She felt as though her wings could scrape the atmosphere. 

    Ignoring the horrified stares of the SolDragons, Nyx bolted through the sky, joy radiating through her whole body like the sun hovering high up in the sky itself. 

She wondered if the water would be warm in the open sunlight. With a swoop and a catch of wind, she angled her head down and dove like a falcon. Just in time, she pulled up before she hit the water. A spray of cool water misted the undersides of her wings and clung there like glittering diamonds. It was as refreshing as a vibrant colorful flower in a picture of black and white.